English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 24/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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15 آذار/2023

Bible Quotations For today
‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 24/44-49: “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 23-24/2023
Bishop Aoudi: These institutions are able to heal wounds!
Paris reportedly still clinging to Franjieh-Salam proposal
Mikati follows up with Bou Habib on condition of Lebanese in Sudan, receives reassurances about those who were evacuated outside the capital
Hamieh: Is it permissible for marine property revenues to remain at only 500 thousand USD yearly?!
MP Hamdan: Presidential election now a subject of discussion abroad, no longer linked to Parliament
Atallah says the outside should support Lebanon's presidential elections without getting involved in naming process
Boushkian: Increasing public sector salaries is a good start, albeit a belated one
Skaf: Let us go to elections & let the candidate chosen by people's representatives win and we stand by him for the country's salvation
Foreign Ministry receives confirmation of the successful first phase of evacuating Lebanese from Sudan

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 23-24/2023
A deeply divided Israel limps toward its 75th birthday
Jordan: Israel arrested lawmaker on arms-smuggling charges
Special forces swiftly evacuate US embassy staff from Sudan
US and France evacuate citizens to escape Sudan battles
Denmark pulls all troops from Syria, Iraq to counter 'threats' at home
Sweden to land troops in Sudan to 'aid nationals evacuation efforts'
Sudanese Army: Rapid Support Forces assaulted the French embassy convoy, which led to the disruption of the evacuation process
Diplomacy detour: Borrell calls on EU navies to patrol Taiwan Strait
Khamenei Urges Iranian Officials to Unite, Cooperate
Washington Renews Calls on Iran to Release American Detained Citizens in Tehran
Qais Al-Khazali: Saddam Hussein’s DNA Analysis Proved His Indian Origins
Paris, Kyiv, Baltic states dismayed after China envoy questions Ukraine
Russia is using a new delivery of Iran's Shahed drones to strike Ukraine to make up for a lack of precision munitions, reports say
Russia completely abandon dollar, euro in energy trade – deputy PM
Son of Vladimir Putin's spokesman says he served with Wagner in Ukraine
Russia 'will not forgive' US denial of journalist visas
Russian soldiers beg for help as own army throws them into pit
Russian issues warning to G7 'idiots'; Ukraine offensive could begin soon: Live updates
Unprepared for long war, US Army under gun to make more ammo

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 23-24/2023
The sad inevitability of the return to arms in Sudan/Hafed Al-Ghwell/April 23/2023
Turkiye, Egypt may cooperate to help Libya/Yasar Yakis/Arab News/April 23, 2023
Specter of Afghanistan debacle haunts Biden/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/April 23, 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 23-24/2023
Bishop Aoudi: These institutions are able to heal wounds!
NNA/April 23/2023
Bishop Elias Aousi in his today's sermon pointed out that "in our days, we find that atheistic suspicion is increasing, and love towards the Savior is cooling, because people have become panting after the material things in this world, marketed to them by the beneficiaries as one of the necessities of life, so the Lord has become outside the list of the basics of life. If only Everyone clung to the Lord when we found someone who hated his brother, despised him, fought him, humiliated him, or even looked at him as an abuse and exploitation. Martyrdom for Christ has become rare, and I do not mean bloodshed, but death for sins, self-love, personal interests, and attachment to material things. This is what we want from those in charge of this country, whose capital bears the name of the great Saint George. Lebanon and its people have had enough of political deals, narrow calculations, bargaining and grudges, and here he is crying out to Saint George: "Since you are a liberator and liberator for the captives, and a supporter for the poor and needy." And a supporter, and for the sick a doctor and a healer, and for the believers a fighter and a fighter, O great among the martyrs, George, the man in the nail, intercede with God for our salvation.” Fulfilling their duties, every human being can access them by turning to the risen Savior Lord, who raises us from death and corruption. Here comes the role of the institutions affiliated with the Church, which should be the light that illuminates the darkness of the days, and the support for the poor, the sick and the needy. Of course, it cannot replace the state, and it does not possess supernatural capabilities, but it gives what God has given it, with love, and because it puts its hope in the Lord, it is able to heal the wounds of souls, waiting for the conscience of officials to awaken, and to complete their duties in order to revive this wounded country and its miserable people And he concluded: “St. George’s Hospital, St. George’s House, St. George’s University, and all the institutions of this diocese, ask for the help of the risen Lord from the dead, through the intercession of St. George, who is clothed in victory, so that they are always at the service of man, in all fields. Therefore, we are called today to believe in the only true and life-giving God, and to renounce the pursuit of leaders who deify themselves so that they may live and kill us. May the Lord bless you, strengthening your faith, through the intercessions of his great martyr George, and all the saints, Amen.

Paris reportedly still clinging to Franjieh-Salam proposal
Naharnet/April 23/2023
The French policy toward Lebanon has not changed and Paris is still carrying on with its proposal for resolving the Lebanese crisis: the election of Suleiman Franjieh as president and the appointment of Nawaf Salam as premier, multiple sources said.
Despite the objections against the aforementioned proposal that have been relayed to the French leadership, Paris is insisting on its initiative, arguing that “Hezbollah has not accepted any alternative candidates” and that some nominees are “unknown” or “do not enjoy a presidential profile,” the sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday. “Hezbollah is the side capable of prolonging vacuum to any extent it wants, in light of what it did in 2016, and accordingly France believes that it would be impossible to elect any candidate not accepted by Hezbollah,” the sources added. “Another reason behind the French intransigence is that Paris cannot suddenly reverse the policy it has adopted for several months now, because that would mean that it lacks seriousness,” the sources said.

Mikati follows up with Bou Habib on condition of Lebanese in Sudan, receives reassurances about those who were evacuated outside the capital
NNA/April 23/2023 
Prime Minister Najib Mikati followed up today with Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Abdallah Bou Habib, the file of the Lebanese residing in Sudan, who reassured him that the convoy of Lebanese who were evacuated from there is safe outside the capital, Khartoum. In this context, the Lebanese embassy in Sudan organized a convoy to evacuate the Lebanese, who are around sixty in number, by sea back to Lebanon. The Prime Minister gave his directives to the Higher Relief Commission to follow up on this dossier and to secure the return of the Lebanese to Beirut after leaving Sudan by sea.

Hamieh: Is it permissible for marine property revenues to remain at only 500 thousand USD yearly?!
NNA/April 23/2023
Caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ali Hamieh, asked in a statement on Sunday, “Is it permissible to keep the revenues from occupancy of marine public property on the beach at only 500 thousand dollars annually?!! Or should lifting the injustice and collecting part of the state’s financial rights be the characteristic of the current stage?"He added, "The decree that was approved is only the beginning, and it will be followed by steps to correct the chronic imbalance."

MP Hamdan: Presidential election now a subject of discussion abroad, no longer linked to Parliament
NNA/April 23/2023 
MP Firas Hamdan underlined the necessity of "agreeing on a name for the presidency that is not linked to the candidate’s name in itself, but to the basic files that will be dealt with, especially at the economic level," pointing out that "the Change Deputies had previously proposed names for the presidency, which were rejected by the other blocs."Speaking in an interview with “Voice of All Lebanon 93.3” Radio Channel this morning, Hamdan said that the “Change Deputies” support an internal dialogue in the parliament on the kind of president we want; however, he noted that the presidential election is no longer linked to the parliament, but is now being discussed abroad.

Atallah says the outside should support Lebanon's presidential elections without getting involved in naming process
NNA/April 23/2023
MP Ghassan Atallah indicated today in a radio interview that "the Free Patriotic Movement does not want to propose a candidate's name for the presidency who is not ready to reach the presidency," noting that the Movement is "waiting for the maturity of the stage to yield a more effective result."
However, he stated that FPM had an initiative of setting basic specifications for the president and it is open to dialogue in this regard, revealing indirect channels of dialogue between deputies from the Movement and others from the Lebanese Forces Party, in the hope that meetings will take place between the two sides, “because Christian consensus is required primarily for a president to emerge, supported by major Christian blocs." Responding to a question about France's moves in support of Sleiman Franjieh's candidacy, the MP said: "Any external imposition of the name of the President of the Republic is not welcome, for what is required from the outside is to support the entitlement procedure, away from candidates' names and imposing any figure on the Christian blocs," Atallah underlined. He stressed that "FPM today advocates dialogue to agree on a consensual president for the Republic of Lebanon."

Boushkian: Increasing public sector salaries is a good start, albeit a belated one
NNA/April 23/2023
Caretaker Minister of Industry George Boushkian, stressed that he does not regret his decision to participate in the government meetings, considering that "what the caretaker government is doing today is to conduct basic and necessary matters in the exceptional situation the country is going through." In an interview with the "Voice of All Lebanon", he believed that "the parliament is the appropriate place to conduct a dialogue between all components, and it has become an urgent matter to keep pace with the external dialogue that is taking place in Paris regarding the presidential elections."The minister considered that "the Lebanese file needs a clearer scene in the region first, hoping that the next stage will witness prosperity, especially in the sectors of industry, agriculture and tourism, in addition to re-strengthening the banking sector."In response to a question, Boushkian said, "The increases approved for public sector employees constitute a good start, albeit late, and fall within the interim decisions moving according to state revenues."

Skaf: Let us go to elections & let the candidate chosen by people's representatives win and we stand by him for the country's salvation
NNA/April 23/2023 
MP Ghassan Skaf revealed today that "his second initiative towards achieving the presidential election has taken its course and will have its complete components in the next few days."Skaf's words came after a greeting visit he paid today on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr to the Mufti of Zahle and the Bekaa, Sheikh Ali Al-Ghazawi, and the Mufti of Rashaya, Sheikh Wafik Hijazi. Skaf said: "In the first initiative, the tendency was towards one candidate that everyone would accept, in order to avoid disrupting the quorum, but some parties disrupted the quorum nevertheless, and today there are other parties ready to disrupt the quorum."He continued: "In the second initiative, I am looking for a way out to prevent quorum disruption by finding two opposing candidates (a candidate from each team), whereby each candidate must convince his team not to disrupt the quorum and convince those hesitant to vote for him.”Skaf concluded: "We are in a democratic system, and democracy requires that we accept the results of the elections. Let us go to elections, and let the one who is chosen by the people’s representatives win, and we all congratulate him and stand by his side for the salvation of the country.”

Foreign Ministry receives confirmation of the successful first phase of evacuating Lebanese from Sudan
NNA/April 23/2023 
Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Abdallah Bou Habib, was informed by the Lebanese Ambassador to Sudan that the first phase of evacuating the Lebanese citizens who came to the assembly point in front of the Rotana Hotel - Khartoum at dawn today, Sunday, April 23, 2023, has been successfully completed, as the convoy arrived peacefully a short while ago to the Coral Hotel in Port Sudan following a land trip that took several hours. The Ministry and the Higher Relief Commission will provide updates on developments successively, in order to secure the transfer of those evacuated from Port Sudan to Lebanon. .A list of 51 persons who arrived on board the convoy was also provided.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 23-24/2023
A deeply divided Israel limps toward its 75th birthday
Associated Press/April 23/2023
Orit Pinhasov strongly opposes the Israeli government's proposed judicial overhaul, but you won't find her anywhere near the mass protests against the plan. She says her marriage depends on it. Pinhasov's husband sits on the opposite side of Israel's political divide, and joining the protests will only deepen what she says already are palpable tensions in her household."I don't go to the demonstrations not because I don't believe in them," she said. "I don't go in order to protect my home. I feel like I'm fighting for my home." Israel turns 75 on Wednesday while faceing perhaps its gravest existential threat yet — not from foreign enemies but from divisions within. For over three months, tens of thousands of people have rallied in the streets against what they see as an assault by an ultranationalist, religious government threatening a national identity rooted in liberal traditions. Fighter pilots have threatened to stop reporting for duty. Israel's leaders have openly warned of civil war, and families of fallen soldiers have called on politicians to stay away from the ceremonies. Many Israelis wonder if the deep split can ever heal. Miri Regev, the government minister in charge of the main celebration on Tuesday night, has threatened to throw out anyone who disrupts it. The event takes place at a plaza next to Israel's national cemetery in Jerusalem, where Israel abruptly shifts from solemn Memorial Day observances for fallen soldiers to the joy of Independence Day, complete with a symbolic torch-lighting ceremony, military marches and musical and dance performances. Opposition leader Yair Lapid is boycotting the ceremony. "You have torn Israeli society apart, and no phony fireworks performance can cover that up," he said. The rift is so wide that Israel's longest-running and perhaps most pressing problem — its open-ended military rule over the Palestinians — barely gets mentioned despite a recent surge in violence. Even before the protests erupted, public discourse was mostly limited to the military's dealing with the conflict, rather than the future of the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, which Palestinians seek for their state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a polarizing leader revered by supporters and reviled by opponents, has played a key role in the crisis. The divisions gained steam as he was indicted on corruption charges in 2019. Israel barreled through five cycles of elections in under four years — all of them focused on Netanyahu's fitness to rule. Late last year, Netanyahu finally eked out a victory — cobbling together the most right-wing government in Israel's history. Within days, it set out to overhaul the judicial system and give Netanyahu's allies the power to overturn court decisions and appoint judges.
The plan, which critics see as a transparent power grab, has triggered unprecedented protests that ultimately forced Netanyahu to freeze it. In a reflection of the deep mistrust, the protests have only grown larger, exposing deeper fault lines in Israeli society that go back decades.
On Netanyahu's side is a religious and socially conservative coalition that includes the politically powerful ultra-Orthodox minority, the religious-nationalist community, including West Bank settlers, and Jews of Middle Eastern descent who live in outlying working-class towns. Those protesting against him are largely secular, middle-class professionals behind Israel's modern economy. They include high-tech workers, teachers, lawyers and current and former commanders in Israel's security forces. Israel's Palestinian minority, meanwhile, has largely sat out the protests, saying it never felt part of Israel to begin with.
These divisions have filtered down to workplaces, friendships and families.
Despite political differences, Pinhasov, 49, said she and her husband have "lived in peace" for 30 years. She said there were disagreements at election time every few years, but these were short-lived and minor.
That began to change during the coronavirus pandemic, when Pinhasov said the tone of public debate over issues like lockdowns and vaccines became more strident. Then, as Israel ricocheted from election to election, the tensions began to be felt at home.
Her husband would tell her she's been "brainwashed" and complained about "leftist" media, Pinhasov said. When she disagreed, he would say, "you don't understand." They could no longer watch the news together or "Wonderful Country," a popular political satire show. Their four children, including a 21-year-old son who shares his father's views, all love and respect each other and their parents, she says. But it's complicated, like "walking on eggshells."
While Israel typically unites in times of war, seeds of distrust were planted decades ago. From Israel's earliest days, the Jewish majority was plagued by disagreements over issues such as whether to accept reparations from postwar West Germany, to violent protests by poorer Middle Eastern Jews in the early 1970s, and bitter internal divisions over military fiascos during the 1973 Mideast war and later in Lebanon. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish ultranationalist in 1995 opposed to his peace efforts with the Palestinians. Large protests erupted when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005. "Israel was always a deeply divided society, but somehow it held together," said Tom Segev, an Israeli author, historian and journalist. "The difference now is that we are really discussing the basic values of this society."
The protests against Netanyahu's government show that many are "genuinely frightened" for Israel's future, he said. Tel Aviv University economist Dan Ben-David, president of the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research, points to two seminal events in Israel's history – the 1967 and 1973 Mideast wars.
The 1967 war, in which Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, spawned the Jewish settler movement, which has turned into a powerful political force representing some 700,000 people.
The 1973 war, meanwhile, set off a process that would bring the right-wing Likud party to power four years later. The Likud has ruled for most of the time since then, usually in partnership with ultra-Orthodox parties.
These religious parties have used their political power to win generous subsidies and controversial exemptions from military service — angering the broader secular public. The ultra-Orthodox community, and to a lesser extent the religious nationalist community run separate school systems that offer subpar educations with little respect for democratic values like minority rights, Ben-David said.
Because these communities have high birth rates, he said Israel needs to go back to a "melting pot" model that includes a core curriculum promoting universal values, he said. "If we are one nation, then we need to teach our children what brings us together."Danny Danon, a former ambassador to the United Nations and top figure in Netanyahu's Likud party, said the anniversary is a time for everyone to reflect and think about what they have in common. "In my five years at the U.N., I realized that our enemies do not make the distinction between left and right, secular and Orthodox," he said. "That's why we have to realize we have to stick together."Still, many see the 75th anniversary celebrations as a time for joy. Pinhasov said she will host a party for some 100 people at her home in central Israel, many of them members of her husband's family. "It's our Independence Day," she said. "It's still a day for celebrations."

Jordan: Israel arrested lawmaker on arms-smuggling charges
AMMAN, Jordan (AP)/Sun, April 23, 2023 at 12:41 p.m. EDT
Jordan's Foreign Ministry on Sunday said a Jordanian lawmaker has been arrested by Israel on suspicion of smuggling weapons and gold into the occupied West Bank. The ministry's spokesman, Sinan Majali, said Jordanian officials are following the case “to find out the merits of the situation and address it as soon as possible.” The lawmaker was identified as Imad Al-Adwan and said to have been arrested crossing the border into the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israel's Foreign Ministry declined comment. The incident threatens to further strain what already are tense relations between Jordan and its neighbor Israel.
The West Bank has seen a surge in violence over the past year. Israel says the area has been flooded with illegal weapons, including guns smuggled from neighboring Jordan. Over 90 Palestinians and 18 Israelis have been killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year. Israel says most of the Palestinians were wanted militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting army incursions and people not involved in confrontations have also been killed. All but one of the Israelis killed were civilians. Since Israel's hard-line government took office, relations with Jordan have deteriorated over Israeli settlement construction, violence in the West Bank and policies over holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City. Jordan controlled the West Bank and east Jerusalem before Israel captured the areas in the 1967 Mideast war, but the kingdom retains custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Muslim holy sites in the Old City.

Special forces swiftly evacuate US embassy staff from Sudan
WASHINGTON (AP)/Sun, April 23, 2023
U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the American embassy in warring Sudan on Sunday, sweeping in and out of the capital, Khartoum, with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. No shots were fired and no major casualties were reported.
With the last U.S. employee of the embassy out, Washington shuttered the U.S. mission in Khartoum indefinitely. Left behind were thousands of private American citizens remaining in the east African country.U.S. officials said it would be too dangerous to carry out a broader evacuation mission. Battles between two rival Sudanese commanders entered their ninth day Sunday, forcing continued closing of the main international airport and leaving roads out of the country in control of armed men. Fighting has killed more than 400 people. In a statement thanking the troops, President Joe Biden said he was receiving regular reports from his team on efforts to assist remaining Americans in Sudan “to the extent possible.”He also called for the end to “unconscionable” violence there. About 100 U.S. troops in three MH-47 helicopters carried out the operation. They airlifted all of roughly 70 remaining American employees from a landing zone at the embassy to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia. Ethiopia also provided overflight and refueling support, said Molly Phee, assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Biden said Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia also assisted with the evacuation. “I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our Embassy staff, who performed their duties with courage and professionalism and embodied America’s friendship and connection with the people of Sudan,” Biden said in a statement. “I am grateful for the unmatched skill of our service members who successfully brought them to safety.”U.S. Africa Command and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley were in contact with both warring factions before and during the operation to ensure that U.S. forces would have safe passage to conduct the evacuation. However, John Bass, a U.S. undersecretary of state, denied claims by one faction, Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Security Forces, that it assisted in the U.S. evacuation. “They cooperated to the extent that they did not fire on our service members in the course of the operation," Bass said. Biden had ordered American troops to evacuate embassy personnel after receiving a recommendation from his national security team, with no end in sight to the fighting. “This tragic violence in Sudan has already cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. It’s unconscionable and it must stop,” Biden said. “The belligerent parties must implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the will of the people of Sudan.”Sudan's fighting broke out April 15 between two commanders who just 18 months earlier jointly orchestrated a military coup to derail the nation’s transition to democracy. The ongoing power struggle now between the armed forces chief, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has millions of Sudanese cowering inside their homes, hiding from explosions, gunfire and looting. The violence has included an unprovoked attack on an American diplomatic convoy and numerous incidents in which foreign diplomats and aid workers were killed, injured or assaulted. An estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens are registered with the embassy as being in Sudan. The figure is rough because not all Americans register with embassy or say when they depart. The embassy issued an alert earlier Saturday cautioning that “due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, it is not currently safe to undertake a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of private U.S. citizens.”
The U.S. evacuation planning for American employees of the embassy got underway in earnest on Monday after the embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum. The Pentagon confirmed on Friday that U.S. troops were being moved to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti ahead of a possible evacuation.
Saudi Arabia announced the successful repatriation of some of its citizens on Saturday, sharing footage of Saudi nationals and other foreigners welcomed with chocolate and flowers as they stepped off an apparent evacuation ship at the Saudi port of Jeddah. Embassy evacuations conducted by the U.S. military are relatively rare and usually take place only under extreme conditions. When it orders an embassy to draw down staff or suspend operations, the State Department prefers to have its personnel leave on commercial transportation if that is an option. When the embassy in Kyiv temporarily closed just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022, staffers used commercial transport to leave. However, in several other recent cases, notably in Afghanistan in 2021, conditions made commercial departures impossible or extremely hazardous. U.S. troops accompanied personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, in an overland convoy to Tunisia when they evacuated in 2014.
*Matthew Lee, Tara Copp And Aamer Madhani, The Associated Press

US and France evacuate citizens to escape Sudan battles
AFP/April 23/2023
U.S. troops swooped in on helicopters to evacuate embassy staff from Sudan's battle-torn capital, President Joe Biden announced Sunday, as other nations sought to help their citizens escape deadly fighting between rival generals. France on Sunday also launched evacuation operations from the northeast African nation, where fighting has entered its second week. Ferocious battles between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary group -- which has seen fighter jets launch airstrikes and street fighting with tanks in densely populated Khartoum -- have killed more than 400 people and left thousands wounded. Biden, who said the U.S. military "conducted an operation" to extract U.S. government personnel, called for an immediate ceasefire and condemned the deadly violence. "It's unconscionable and it must stop," he said in a statement. Just over 100 U.S. special operations troops took part in the rescue to extract fewer than 100 people, which saw three Chinook helicopters fly from Djibouti, staying on the ground in Khartoum for less than an hour. France's foreign ministry said Sunday a "rapid evacuation operation" had begun, and that European citizens and those from "allied partner countries" would also be assisted, without giving further details.
Scramble to evacuate -
Heavy fighting broke out on April 15 between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy turned rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The former allies seized power in a 2021 coup but later fell out in a bitter power struggle. Daglo's RSF emerged from the Janjaweed fighters unleashed in Darfur by former strongman leader Omar al-Bashir, where they were accused of war crimes. U.S. Under Secretary of State John Bass said that the RSF "cooperated to the extent that they did not fire on our service members," warning that a coordinated U.S. government effort to evacuate other American citizens was unlikely in the coming days. More than 150 people from various nations reached the safety of Saudi Arabia after naval forces launched a rescue across the Red Sea on Saturday, collecting 91 Saudi citizens and around 66 nationals from 12 other countries from Port Sudan, in the first announced evacuation of civilians. Other foreign countries have said they are preparing for the potential evacuation of thousands more of their nationals, with South Korea and Japan deploying forces to nearby countries, and the European Union weighing a similar move. Three German military transport planes had to turn back Wednesday, according to German weekly Der Spiegel. Khartoum's airport has been the site of heavy fighting with aircraft destroyed on the runway, and is under the control of the RSF.
'Living in darkness' -
Multiple truces have been agreed and ignored. The latest truce to be declared, for the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, saw gunfire momentarily die down on Friday but then resume. Fighting continues. "Sadly, the main focus and impetus for the attempted Eid ceasefire in Sudan has been evacuations of foreign nationals, not humanitarian relief or peace diplomacy," Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group said Sunday. In Khartoum, the conflict has left terrified civilians sheltering inside their homes, with power largely cut amid sweltering heat in the city of five million people.
Many have ventured out only to get food and water, supplies of which are dwindling, or to flee the city. "We were living in darkness, it's not normal. First we didn't have water and then we didn't have power," Khartoum resident Awad Ahmad Sherif said. "We ask God for our safety."Adding to residents' woes was a "near-total collapse of internet connectivity" across the country, according to web monitor NetBlocks. While the capital has seen some of the fiercest clashes, fighting has broken out elsewhere across Sudan, Africa's third biggest nation, roughly three times the size of France. Battles have raged in Darfur, where Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the city of El Fasher said their medics had been "overwhelmed" by the number of patients with gunshot wounds, many of them children. The U.N. World Health Organization said more than 420 people had been killed and over 3,700 wounded in the fighting across Sudan, but the actual death toll is thought to be higher. More than two-thirds of hospitals in Khartoum and neighbouring states are now "out of service", and at least four hospitals in North Kordofan state were shelled, the doctors' union said. Burhan and Daglo's dispute centred on the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army, a key condition for a deal aimed at restoring Sudan's democratic transition after the military toppled Bashir in April 2019 following mass citizen protests. ---

Denmark pulls all troops from Syria, Iraq to counter 'threats' at home
 AL-Mayadeen/April 23/2023
Denmark has decided to withdraw all its military specialists who allegedly participated in countering ISIS in Iraq and Syria to combat what it called threats in close proximity to the country’s borders, the Danish Defense Ministry said on Saturday. Denmark will withdraw all its soldiers present in Iraq and Syria after their contribution to combat ISIS is no longer needed as the terrorist group was weakened, the Danish Defense Ministry said on Saturday. The military forces will head home to counter threats in the country's "immediate vicinity" after being deployed since 2016, the statement read, noting that the unit specialized in the air defense field. "Now we are withdrawing the unit to Denmark, partly because the number of the Islamic State [in Syria and Iraq] has been so reduced that there is no equal need for our contribution, and partly because we need to restore combat power for countering the threats that we see in our immediate vicinity," the statement read. The US and its Western allies have for long employed the alleged "ISIS threat" as a pretext to continue their presence in Iraq and illegal occupation of parts of Syria, frequently plundering resources and conducting espionage operations against the countries and their neighbors.
NATO'S EASTERN FLANK
Last January, a US ship carrying around 600 pieces of military equipment docked in Denmark as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which aims to strengthen NATO's eastern flank and increase the coalition's military readiness. The transport ship arrived at Denmark's largest commercial port in Aarhus city - marking the first time the port receives such cargo by the US - and included armored military vehicles destined to be taken to Poland. Copenhagon's NATO contributions were not limited to becoming a transit state for weapon shipments heading to Kiev, as Denmark also participated in training Ukrainian soldiers, arming Ukraine, and providing military forces to bolster the coalition's eastern flank presence. --- AL-Mayadeen

Sweden to land troops in Sudan to 'aid nationals evacuation efforts'
News Agencies/April 23/2023 
Sweden plans on sending a military detachment to Sudan to evacuate Swedish nationals from the conflict-ridden country including Swedish embassy employees, Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson stated on Saturday. Such a decision would need the approval of the Swedish parliament which is set to consider sending military personnel to Sudan on Sunday, according to Swedish media. "This decision would mean that the Riksdag (parliament) would allow the government to send military forces in accordance with international law to support and carry out the operation to evacuate Swedish and foreign citizens from Sudan. Of course, this would be done in close cooperation with international organizations and other countries," Jonson stated at a press conference. Swedish Aftonbladet newspaper reported that there are around a hundred Swedish citizens stuck in Sudan at the moment. Similarly, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austinannounced on Friday that the US military has deployed forces close to the African country and will take action when a decision from Washington is made to evacuate embassy staff. “We’ve deployed some forces into the theatre to ensure that we provide as many options as possible if we are called on to do something. And we haven’t been called on to do anything yet,” he told reporters at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. “No decision on anything has been made,” he added, without providing further details on whether the decision would be made public. However, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces stated on Saturday that they will ensure the safe evacuation of foreigners and diplomats through Sudanese airports. Saudi Arabia has already evacuated foreigners and nationals through the Port of Sudan on Saturday, with Jordan set to follow suit. The country's official Al-Ekhbariyahtelevision revealed that "The first evacuation vessel from Sudan has arrived, carrying 50 citizens and a number of nationals from friendly countries." The army and the rebel RSF, which are waging a deadly power struggle across the country, had both issued statements saying they would uphold a three-day ceasefire from Friday for Islam's Eid al-Fitr holiday. Although the clashes were reduced the ceasefire was breached on multiple occasions on Friday and Saturday. The World Health Organization announced on Friday that since clashes broke out, there have been 413 fatalities and 3,551 injuries. --- News Agencies

Sudanese Army: Rapid Support Forces assaulted the French embassy convoy, which led to the disruption of the evacuation process
NNA/April 23/2023 
"Russia Today" news agency quoted the Sudanese Armed Forces as saying that the Rapid Support Forces committed several violations against diplomatic missions, including the shooting attack on the French embassy convoy, which led to the disruption of the evacuation process.Today, the Sudanese Armed Forces said, "The Rapid Support militia stole the diplomatic vehicle of the Malaysian ambassador, and assaulted today the convoy of the Qatari embassy heading to Port Sudan and looted their money, all their bags and mobile phones, and attacked the convoy of the French embassy by shooting, which led to their return and disruption of the evacuation operation." It pointed out that "one of the French was wounded by a sniper's bullet, in addition to the attack on the mission's headquarters." In turn, the Rapid Support Forces announced that its forces "were subjected to an air attack in the morning during the evacuation of French nationals from their country's embassy, ​​passing through Bahri to Omdurman, which endangered the lives of French nationals," stressing that "one of the French nationals was injured and the rest survived."They pointed out that "in order to preserve the safety of the French nationals, they were forced to return the convoy to the starting point."

Diplomacy detour: Borrell calls on EU navies to patrol Taiwan Strait
Al-Mayadeen/April 23/2023
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on the bloc's navies to patrol the Taiwan Strait in an op-ed piece for the French Journal Du Dimanche newspaper published on Sunday. The statement marks the first time a top EU official called for direct involvement in the disputed region in the South China Sea and fully aligns with Washington's provocative policy against Beijing. Taiwan "concerns us economically, commercially and technologically," Borrell stressed. "That's why I call on European navies to patrol the Taiwan Strait to show Europe's commitment to freedom of navigation in this absolutely crucial area." Earlier this week, the EU's top diplomat said during a European Parliament conference debating China that "Taiwan is clearly part of our geostrategic perimeter to guarantee peace." "It is not only for a moral reason that an action against Taiwan must necessarily be rejected. It is also because it would be, in economic terms, extremely serious for us, because Taiwan has a strategic role in the production of the most advanced semiconductors," he said on Tuesday. His comments come in contraction with those of French President Emmanuel Macron, who said earlier this month that the European Union must maintain an independent sovereign policy on Taiwan, and not be a "follower" of either China or Washington. "We don't want to get into a bloc versus bloc logic," Macron stressed, saying Europe "should not be caught up in a disordering of the world and crises that aren't ours". ---

Khamenei Urges Iranian Officials to Unite, Cooperate
London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 23 April, 2023
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged senior Iranian officials in the three authorities to unite, cooperate, collaborate, and distance themselves from marginal issues to devote themselves to solving the country's major problems. During Eid el-Fitr prayer sermon, Khamenei asserted that cooperation and solidarity are the essential and basic strategies for solving problems and advancing the country. He said if the government, parliament, and the judiciary cooperate fully, the country's issues won't be complicated, asserting that cooperation is the overall strategy. Last Wednesday, Khamenei criticized economic sessions held by the presidencies of the Judiciary, Executive, and Legislative authorities, saying they were temporary and did not reach their intended purpose. He asserted that the solution is to hold such sessions until the work is done and completed. During the Eid sermon, Khamenei called for focusing on resolving issues and refraining from "marginal issues," warning that the enemies want to divide the nation. Khamenei accused the enemies of aiming for conflict between Iranians because of different beliefs and sects, asserting the need to maintain unity to overcome challenges. "The enemy is against the unity of the Iranian people," he said, adding that the different sects and beliefs can coexist and work together in the country. Khamenei implicitly ruled out repeating the war tactics against Afghanistan and Iraq, noting that the US saw that military action could not yield results, prompting it to change its strategy. He noted that the US tactics are now based on deception, distortion, lies, and concealing other nations' capabilities, recalling: "We must update our knowledge of the enemy's movements, tactics, and methods." Last Sunday, Khamenei stressed during a meeting with senior armed forces commanders that Iran was the "ultimate goal" of the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. Khamenei added: "Therefore, the enemy can be defeated despite its seemingly solid calculations and military power." The Supreme Leader announced his opposition to calls for a referendum on state policy after he rejected calls to change the Iranian constitution last month. Referring to the comments of one of the students, he said: "The various issues of the country cannot be put to a referendum because each referendum preoccupies the entire country for six months. Besides, where in the world do they hold referendums for all issues?"Earlier, former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called for a referendum on the country's issues, including differences over the headscarf. Rouhani's call came about two months after former President Mohammad Khatami called for a return to the current constitution to carry out reforms in the country. Reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is under house arrest, called for a new draft constitution, which would be submitted for referendum. Reform activist Ahmed Zeidabadi called to remove Friday imams representing Khamenei in Iranian cities. In an implicit reference to Khamenei's speech, Zeidabadi tweeted that the work of many Friday imams went beyond raising marginal issues, creating crises, and fueling psychological warfare against people.
He indicated that warning them is not the solution, instead dismissing them. Otherwise, the situation will remain unchanged because of their presence and people like them in military ranks.

Washington Renews Calls on Iran to Release American Detained Citizens in Tehran
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 23 April, 2023
Washington described Iran’s imprisonment of US nationals for use as political leverage as outrageous and inhumane, calling on the Iranian authorities to release US nationals wrongfully detained in Tehran. US Department of State Spokesperson Vedant Patel said that the US has no higher priority than securing the release of its nationals wrongfully detained overseas, "and we are working relentlessly to secure the release of US nationals wrongfully detained in Iran.""We once again call on Iran to cease its abhorrent practice of unjustly imprisoning foreign nationals for use as political leverage, and to immediately release US citizens Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and Siamak Namazi," stressed Patel in his briefing marking five years since Shargi was first arrested in Iran. This came as Tahbaz's daughter said on Saturday she had lost confidence in US President Joe Biden's efforts to free her father. Tahbaz has served five years of a 10-year sentence after being convicted of spying and was briefly released to house arrest with an electronic tag in March 2022 when two other dual nationals, including British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, were allowed to leave Iran. In July his lawyer was quoted as saying he had been granted bail, but his daughter said he was now back in jail."I think being told since Biden has taken office that our loved ones are a priority, and then seeing no action - it is hard to hold hope," Tara Tahbaz told Reuters in Madrid while she was visiting from the United States to see relatives.

Qais Al-Khazali: Saddam Hussein’s DNA Analysis Proved His Indian Origins
Asharq Al-Awsat/Sunday, 23 April, 2023
Qais al-Khazali, the secretary-general of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq movement in Iraq, stated that a DNA analysis of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has proven that he is of Indian origin. Al-Khazali, in a sermon marking the Eid Al-Fitr holiday on Saturday in Baghdad, delivered a blistering attack on what he described as “pseudo-intellectuals” who engage in “conspiracies and projects to undermine stability.”“Saddam used to propagate his belief that the Iraqi people have their origins in India, and after DNA analysis, it has been revealed that he himself is of Indian origin,” said al-Khazali. No party leader had previously definitively discussed the origins of the former Iraqi president or his tribe, and reports following his arrest at the end of 2003 only focused on DNA analysis linking Saddam to the corpses of his sons Uday and Qusay to confirm his identity. Al-Khazali did not mention how he arrived at a conclusion regarding the origins of the former Iraqi president or how he identified his lineage through gene testing, which is typically carried out in specialized labs. However, sources close to al-Khazali told Asharq Al-Awsat that he relied on studies conducted by Iraqi researchers interested in the lineage of the peoples who inhabited Iraq during the past century. These studies concluded that the Nida tribe has “Indo-Aryan” origins, but the validity and reliability of these studies are difficult to verify. In 2017, the state-run magazine “Al-Shabaka” published an investigation into “Saddam’s origins,” claiming that a gene test proved he belongs to the “L” lineage, which is prevalent in South Asia, especially in Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Baluchistan in Iran and Afghanistan, and to a lesser extent in the Middle East in general. The study also did not mention how this result was reached and did not refer to any scientific source that confirms these claims.
Al-Khazali’s statement sparked a wide-ranging debate on social media. While many criticized what they described as “distracting the public from important events,” others circulated statements from genealogists on the origins of Iraqi tribes, claiming that a spectrum of Iraqis are not actually Arabs.

Paris, Kyiv, Baltic states dismayed after China envoy questions Ukraine
PARIS (Reuters)/Sun, April 23, 2023
France, Ukraine and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania expressed dismay after China's ambassador in Paris questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet countries like Ukraine. Asked about his position on whether Crimea is part of Ukraine or not, Chinese ambassador Lu Shaye said in an interview aired on French television on Friday that historically it was part of Russia and had been offered to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. "These ex-USSR countries don't have actual status in international law because there is no international agreement to materialize their sovereign status," Shaye added. France responded on Sunday by stating its "full solidarity" with all the allied countries affected, which it said had acquired their independence "after decades of oppression". "On Ukraine specifically, it was internationally recognized within borders including Crimea in 1991 by the entire international community, including China," a foreign ministry spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that China will have to clarify whether these comments reflect its position or not. The three Baltic states and Ukraine, all formerly part of the Soviet Union, reacted along the same lines as France. "It is strange to hear an absurd version of the 'history of Crimea' from a representative of a country that is scrupulous about its thousand-year history," Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian presidential aide, wrote on Twitter. "If you want to be a major political player, do not parrot the propaganda of Russian outsiders." China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Russia is using a new delivery of Iran's Shahed drones to strike Ukraine to make up for a lack of precision munitions, reports say
Isobel van Hagen/Business Insider/Sun, April 23, 2023
Russia used Iranian Shahed exploding drones to strike Ukraine, an ISW report said. It is aiming to "offset the degradation" of its precision munition supply, the think tank said. The Russian military used drones to target Kyiv for the first time in 25 days. Russian forces are using Iranian-made Shahed drones and "other lower-precision systems" to strike Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a recent assessment of the war in Ukraine. The Russian military, which recently targeted Ukraine's capital city Kyiv with the deadly drones for the first time in 25 days on Friday, is using the drones to "offset the degradation of Russia's precision munition supply," the ISW said in the report. The Kyiv City Military Administration reported no damage from the attacks. Ukraine's military shot down 21 drones out of the 26 launched by Russia's military on April 20, and shot down eight of the 12 drones launched the following day, the Ukrainian General Staff reported. Russia has also targeted Odesa, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv oblasts in the attacks, which took place from April 19 to 21, the ISW reported. The Shahed drone is also known as a "kamikaze" drone as it has a warhead packed with explosives on its nose, per the BBC, meaning it will detonate on impact. Iran is becoming a global leader in the production of deadly and effective drones, the Guardian reported in February, despite the country previously denying involvement in Ukraine. Iran's Shahed-136, and its smaller cousin, the Shahed-131, which Russia is also using, are loitering munitions that are a cross between a drone and a missile. According to Insider's Michael Peck the armaments have a camera in their nose and they orbit a target like a drone until an operator on the ground smashes them into tanks, howitzers, and bunkers just like a missile. The recent drone delivery comes as Russia has used almost all of its strategic missile stockpile since September of last year, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Colonel Yuri Ihnat said, according to an ISW update earlier this week. Ukrainian forces have shot down 750 of the 850 missiles that Russian forces have launched at Ukraine during this period, Ihnat said, adding that Russian troops have shifted to using less expensive and shorter-range systems, per the ISW. According to the ISW's latest control of terrain estimate, Russia has claimed territory amounting to about 87.9% of Bakhmut — a city in eastern Ukraine that has seen some of the war's deadliest fighting — but Ukraine has said its forces will not abandon the seige.

Russia completely abandon dollar, euro in energy trade – deputy PM
RT/April 23/2023
Russia is switching to national currencies in energy trade with foreign partners, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Saturday in an interview with the Russia-1 TV channel. According to the official, most transactions are already made in these currencies, mostly in Chinese yuan and Russian rubles, and in the future Moscow intends to abandon the euro and dollar in energy exports altogether. “The trends have changed greatly toward reducing the use of dollars and euros. Considering the current problems with these currencies, in our settlements we are switching almost exclusively to national currencies,” he said, referring to economic restrictions placed on Russia by Western states due to the Ukraine conflict, which have effectively made it impossible for Russia to conduct transactions in euros and dollars. “Our partners in China are already paying for gas in yuan, as well as partly for oil. They also pay in rubles. We will continue to improve these mutual settlements in national currencies,” Novak pledged.The deputy premier said that in order to meet strong demand for Russian energy, settlement mechanisms are needed “which can only be in national currencies under the current circumstances.”In an earlier interview with TASS news agency, Novak predicted that the share of transactions in national currencies will continue to grow in the coming years. Russia significantly increased the use of national currencies in trade last year, moving away from the euro and dollar in transactions with foreign partners as these currencies were deemed “unreliable” due to sanctions. --

Son of Vladimir Putin's spokesman says he served with Wagner in Ukraine
MOSCOW (Reuters)Sun, April 23, 2023
The son of Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said in an interview published on Saturday that he had served in Ukraine under an assumed name as an artilleryman in the Wagner mercenary force, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported. Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. As many as 354,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured in the Ukraine war which is grinding towards a protracted conflict that may last well beyond 2023, according to a trove of U.S. intelligence documents posted online. Nikolai Peskov, the 33-year-old son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, told the privately-owned newspaper that he had served in Ukraine, a rare, public example of the son of a senior Russian official fighting in the war.
"It was on my initiative," Peskov, whose father has served as Putin's spokesman since 2008, said in an interview. "I considered it my duty." He said that he had served out his contract for a little under half a year under an assumed name to hide his true identity. He received a medal for bravery, the newspaper said. Asked about his father's views of his service, Nikolai said: "He's proud of me, I think. My father told me that I made the right decision." Wagner's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Dmitry Peskov had approached him and asked him to take his son on as an artilleryman.
"Of all my acquaintances, just one person, Dmitry Sergeyvich Peskov, who at one time was reputed to be an absolute liberal, sent his son. He came to me and said: 'Take him on as a simple artilleryman'," Prigozhin said in a video posted on Telegram. Nikolai Peskov was born in 1990 and lived in Britain in the decade following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, according to the Kommersant newspaper. He then returned to Russia and served in the strategic rocket forces from 2010 to 2012. In 2022, an associate of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny pretending to be a Russian military official phoned up Peskov junior and demanded he report to a draft office. Peskov told him that he would not be going anywhere and would solve the situation at a different level, according to a recording of the call posted online. Dmitry Peskov, who served in the foreign ministry in Moscow and abroad before rising through the Kremlin, was sanctioned by the United States shortly after the war, along with his wife and two adult children, Nikolai and Elizaveta, according to the U.S. Treasury.

Russia 'will not forgive' US denial of journalist visas
MOSCOW (AP)/Sun, April 23, 2023
Russia said Sunday that the United States has denied visas to journalists who wanted to cover Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's trip to New York, and Lavrov suggested that Moscow would take strong retaliatory measures. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. State Department about the claim of refused visas. The journalists aimed to cover Lavrov's appearance at the United Nations to mark Russia's chairmanship of the Security Council. “A country that calls itself the strongest, smartest, free and fair country has chickened out and done something stupid by showing what its sworn assurances about protecting freedom of speech and access to information are really worth,” Lavrov said before leaving Moscow on Sunday. “Be sure that we will not forget and will not forgive,” he said. “I emphasize that we will find ways to respond to this, so that the Americans will remember for a long time not to do this," deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said. The dispute comes in the wake of high tensions with Washington over the arrest last month of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, whom Russia accuses of espionage. The United States has declared him to be “wrongfully detained.” Many Western journalists stationed in Moscow left the country after Russia sent troops into Ukraine. Russia currently requires foreign journalists to renew their visas and accreditation every three months, compared to once a year before the fighting began.

Russian soldiers beg for help as own army throws them into pit
James Kilner/The Telegraph/April 23, 2023
Russian deserters are being imprisoned by their own army in medieval-style pits with metal grills on top. Desperate and injured Russian soldiers said that they had been thrown into pits and denied food and water for refusing to fight or for heavy drinking. “We are in the mud, in the rain, we are all wet. My colleagues’ faces were smashed,” one Russian soldier called Pavel Gorelov who identified himself as part of the 99th Regiment, said in a leaked video. “All we did was drink a little beer.” In the video, several men wearing Russian military combat uniforms sit on the hard floor of the pit. Rainwater drips in. Several of the men appear badly injured, with bloody cuts across their swollen faces and black eyes. One man smokes a cigarette but is barely coherent. “I’m begging for help from the prosecutor general,” Mr Gorelov says in the video. “You’ve seen these conditions now." In another video a different Russian soldier, possibly from the same unit, complains that he was being kept in an open pit. Flarit Baitemirov explains that he was a volunteer soldier from Saratov in southern Russia and that he had been kept in the pit since the end of March. "I am being held captive by my own side, the Russians. I am Russian,” he said. Open pits covered with grills called Zindans were used in Central Asia to keep prisoners and were often deployed by Imperial Russian armies. They were renowned for being overcrowded and disease-ridden. Exposed to the elements, inmates used to go mad as they glimpsed the outside world through the grill. Russian soldiers have complained for months that military police throw them into overcrowded caves or pits without any food or water if they refuse to fight. It is difficult to know exactly how many Russian soldiers are mutinying or deserting every day but analysts have said that it is probably hundreds. Russian military tactics have not evolved since World War II and are based on sending waves of infantrymen across open ground against Ukraine machine gun posts and trenches. The high casualty numbers produced by these tactics are spreading fear and discontent within the Russian army. Desperate Russian soldiers have published dozens of videos this year pleading for senior commanders to rescue them from the chaos, death and destruction of the front line. Many of the people in the videos say they are left with no option other than mutinying.

Russian issues warning to G7 'idiots'; Ukraine offensive could begin soon: Live updates
John Bacon, USA TODAY/April 23, 2023
Moscow will shut down the Black Sea Grain deal that allows Ukraine to feed much of the developing world if the Group of Seven nations decides to ban all exports to Russia, a top Russian official said Sunday.
The G7 countries – the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan – are considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia, media outlets in multiple countries reported last week. Russia has for months threatened to halt the grain deal now set to expire next month.
“This idea from the idiots at the G7 about a total ban of exports to our country by default is beautiful in that it implies a reciprocal ban on imports from our country,” former Russian president and current deputy of its security council Dmitry Medvedev said in a post on his Telegram channel, adding “In such a case, the grain deal – and many other things that they need – will end for them."
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the G7 nations' sanctions have focused more on halting import of Russian goods and less on exporting goods to Russia. The import sanctions have forced Russia to sell oil, natural gas and other goods at a discount to India, China and other nations willing to ignore the sanctions. The new plan would add to the list of goods that would no longer be sold to Russia.
Shelling near power plan: Shelling reported near nuclear power plant in Ukraine; more trouble for Russian city accidentally bombed by Russia: Updates
Other developments:
►Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose mercenaries have led the brutal, drawn-out assault on Bakhmut, is urging President Vladimir Putin to focus on holding the current frontlines rather than seeking more gains. Prigohzin has repeatedly complained of insufficient ammunition to press Russia's offensive in the industrial Donbas region.
►Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles confirmed that six German-made Leopard 2 tanks are being shipped from Spain and are due to arrive in Ukraine this week. And Ukrainian tank crews have completed training on Challenger 2 tanks in the U.K. and have returned home, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday.
Wagner leader says troops won't take POWs: 'Kill everyone on the battlefield'
Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said Sunday he is instructing his mercenaries not to capture prisoners of the war, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing a translation from video Prigohzin posted on social media.
Prigozhin made the comment in response to what Russian officials have described as an "intercepted conversation" posted to an unofficial Wagner-affiliated social media account. The post claims the conversation was between two Ukrainian soldiers deciding to shoot a prisoner of war.
“We will kill everyone on the battlefield," Prigozhin said Sunday in the audio recording. "Take no more prisoners of the war!”
Prigohzin also said western tanks, air defense systems and the training of up to 100,000 Ukraine troops meant Ukraine could pose "serious opposition" to Russian forces.
Ukraine offensive could begin soon
Ukraine is poised to begin a counteroffensive that will liberate more territories Russia has occupied in the months since the invasion began, Ukraine's president and NATO's secretary general say. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he is “confident” Kyiv is ready to take back some of its land.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his military is preparing new brigades "that will still prove themselves at the front.” He said issues such as training and integration into the general defense plan are being worked out with Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny. Ukrainian military forces have successfully established positions on the eastern side of the Dnieper River and established supply lines, the latest sign of Kyiv’s long-awaited spring counteroffensive, the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment. "Everyone in Ukraine must understand that the main task of the state is the de-occupation of our territories, the return of our lands and our people from Russian captivity," Zelenskyy said.

Unprepared for long war, US Army under gun to make more ammo
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP)/Sun, April 23, 2023
One of the most important munitions of the Ukraine war comes from a historic factory in this city built by coal barons, where tons of steel rods are brought in by train to be forged into the artillery shells Kyiv can’t get enough of — and that the U.S. can’t produce fast enough.
The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant is at the vanguard of a multibillion-dollar Pentagon plan to modernize and accelerate its production of ammunition and equipment not only to support Ukraine, but to be ready for a potential conflict with China. But it is one of just two sites in the U.S. that make the steel bodies for the critical 155 mm howitzer rounds that the U.S. is rushing to Ukraine to help in its grinding fight to repel the Russian invasion in the largest-scale war in Europe since World War II. The invasion of Ukraine revealed that the U.S. stockpile of 155 mm shells and those of European allies were unprepared to support a major and ongoing conventional land war, sending them scrambling to bolster production. The dwindling supply has alarmed U.S. military planners, and the Army now plans to spend billions on munitions plants around the country in what it calls its most significant transformation in 40 years.
It may not be easy to adapt: practically every square foot of the Scranton plant's red brick factory buildings — first constructed more than a century ago as a locomotive repair depot — is in use as the Army clears space, expands production to private factories and assembles new supply chains.
There are some things that Army and plant officials in Scranton won’t reveal, including where they get the steel for the shells and exactly how many more rounds this factory can produce.
“That’s what Russia wants to know,” said Justine Barati of the U.S. Army’s Joint Munitions Command. So far, the U.S. has provided more than $35 billion in weapons and equipment to Ukraine. The 155 mm shell is one of the most often-requested and supplied items, which also include air defense systems, long-range missiles and tanks. The rounds, used in howitzer systems, are critical to Ukraine’s fight because they allow the Ukrainians to hit Russian targets up to 20 miles (32 kilometers) away with a highly explosive munition.
“Unfortunately, we understand that the production is very limited and it’s been more than a year of war,” Ukraine parliamentary member Oleksandra Ustinova said at a German Marshall Fund media roundtable in Washington on Monday. “But unfortunately we are very dependent on 155.”
The Army is spending about $1.5 billion to ramp up production of 155 mm rounds from 14,000 a month before Russia invaded Ukraine to over 85,000 a month by 2028, U.S. Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo told a symposium last month. Already, the U.S. military has given Ukraine more than 1.5 million rounds of 155 mm ammunition, according to Army figures. But even with higher near-term production rates, the U.S. cannot replenish its stockpile or catch up to the usage pace in Ukraine, where officials estimate that the Ukrainian military is firing 6,000 to 8,000 shells per day. In other words, two days' worth of shells fired by Ukraine equates to the United States' monthly pre-war production figure.
“This could become a crisis. With the front line now mostly stationary, artillery has become the most important combat arm,” said a January report by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Currently, the metal bodies for the 155 mm shells are made at the Army's Scranton plant, operated by General Dynamics, and at a General Dynamics-owned plant in nearby Wilkes-Barre, officials say. Together, the plants are under contract for 24,000 shells per month, with an additional $217 million Army task order to further boost production, although officials won't say how many more 155 mm shells are sought by the task order. The Russians are firing 40,000 shells per day, said Ustinova, who serves on Ukraine's wartime oversight committee. “So we’re doing five times less than they do and trying to keep it up. But if we don’t start the production lines, if you don’t warm it up, it is going to be a huge problem,” Ustinova said. The obstacles the U.S. faces in ramping up production can be seen at the Scranton plant. The factory — built for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad just after 1900, when the city was a rising coal and railroad powerhouse — has produced large-caliber ammunition for the military going back to the Korean War. But the buildings are on the National Historic Registry of Historic Places, limiting how the Army can alter the structures. Inside, the floor is crowded with piles of shells, defunct equipment and production lines where robotic arms, saws, presses and other machines cut, heat, forge, temper, pressure test, wash and paint the shells. The plant is in the midst of $120 million in modernization plans and the Army hopes to open a new production line there by 2025.
Still, clearing space for it has been a complicated task while the military adds newer machinery to make existing lines more efficient. “There’s a lot going on,” said Richard Hansen, the Army commander’s representative at the plant. Meanwhile, the Army is expanding supply chains for parts — metal shells, explosive fill, charges that shoot the shell and fuses — and buying the massive machines that do the work. The Army has new contracts with plants in Texas and Canada to make 155 mm shells, said Douglas Bush, an assistant Army secretary and its chief weapons buyer. The U.S. is also looking overseas to allies to expand production, Bush said.Once the shells are finished in Scranton, they are shipped to the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, where they are packed with explosives, fitted with fuses and packaged for final delivery. The Scranton plant is ill-suited for that task: an accident with an explosive could be devastating.
“If we had a mishap here,” Hansen said, “we take half of the city with us.”

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 23-24/2023
The sad inevitability of the return to arms in Sudan
Hafed Al-Ghwell/April 23/2023
Violent clashes erupted in Sudan last weekend, pitting the Sudanese Armed Forces loyal to Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the general who runs the country’s governing council, against the Rapid Support Forces, an estimated 100,000-strong paramilitary group led by Al-Burhan’s deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti. Despite international calls for a ceasefire, the violence quickly spread, threatening to plunge the country into an all-out civil war. Absent furious diplomatic interventions or other efforts at mitigation, what began as gun battles in Sudanese cities and towns could potentially engulf a wider region already inundated by troubling developments, including a perennially fragile Sahel and the conflict in Libya.
The verified facts are few and far between for now, making it difficult to parse the exact ramifications of the return to arms in Sudan. What is clear, however, is the reasons why the confrontation happened.
Even after former President Omar Bashir was toppled by a coup d’etat in 2019, Sudan remained in turmoil due to frequent protests, the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and fragmentation and infighting within nascent governing institutions mostly ill-equipped to manage a troubled transition.
A nominal power-sharing agreement resulted in some semblance of a loosely held together government, but deep divisions and polarization within the Transitional Sovereign Council have severely undermined its ability to tackle the root causes of civilian angst and growing public frustration, including economic, political and social marginalization.
However, it was still enough to at least corral sufficient support to put together the controversial Juba Peace Agreement with several rebel groups in October 2020, as a first step toward curing Sudan’s many ills in a post-Bashir landscape.
Unfortunately, the implementation of the agreement faced numerous challenges, as the military and civilian factions of the Sovereign Council differed in their approaches to granting legitimacy and agency to bitter rivals-turned-aspiring politicians, which just exacerbated existing tensions.
At the same time, Sudan’s economy was circling the drain as record inflation rates, soaring food prices and fuel shortages gripped a country struggling to shake off the debilitating effects of COVID-19, inciting ever-greater public discontent that the mere appointment of a civilian head of government could not hope to assuage. Following the October 2021 military coup, massive protests once again erupted across Khartoum and other Sudanese cities. The public, led by civil society organizations, demanded the immediate release of civilian leaders who had been arrested and the end of military rule. The military responded with force, leading to a number deaths and injuries among the protesters. Under immense public pressure, Al-Burhan eventually released Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok a month later.
Al-Burhan and Hamdok subsequently announced a political agreement designed to restore the power-sharing agreement and pave the way for a peaceful transition to civilian rule. However, the deal was greeted with skepticism and criticism among the public and members of civil society organizations, who argued that it lacked transparency and did not guarantee an end to military rule. In hindsight, the motivations behind the coup were complex and multifaceted, going beyond mere concerns about the country’s myriad crises, a peace agreement with rebel groups that was worth less than the paper it was written on, and even the role of international actors such as the US, Egypt and Ethiopia, to name but a few.
The corrosive legacy of Omar Bashir’s transactional politics and his exploitation of militias will continue to wreak havoc.
Nonetheless, that coup revealed the fragility of the power-sharing agreement, the deep divisions between the military and civilian factions, and the ways in which both sides were co-opting public dissatisfaction to justify excluding each other from critical decision-making in a slowly unraveling transitional process.
The tensions began mounting further late last year after the Sudanese elite signed on to an accord that was supposed to usher in a new civilian-led government and sideline the military junta that forcefully seized power in October 2021.
However, the so-called Framework Agreement frequently kicked the can down the road (yet again) on a number of challenging issues, such as security sector reform, in the hope of achieving “a government by the end of Ramadan,” as demanded by foreign diplomats.
It also initiated an extremely vague and unrealistic political process built on delicate compromises and formed within a short time span at the behest of an impatient international audience, which only exacerbated the latent tensions.
After Al-Burhan excluded the Rapid Support Forces from meetings on security sector reforms that required the integration of the militia into the Sudanese Armed Forces within two years, Dagalo set about building up and positioning his forces around the capital, Khartoum, in anticipation of an armed confrontation. They deployed at or near strategic locations around the city, including an airport where Sudanese and Egyptian fighter planes were based.
Al-Burhan’s forces saw this as a preemptive escalation that aimed to subvert the Sudanese Armed Forces’ aerial advantage and possibly commandeer some of its superior weaponry, prompting warnings that the security situation in Sudan would collapse unless the Rapid Support Forces withdrew.
They did not and so now, instead of protracted talks about how to integrate the two groups according to a more appropriate timetable, a powder keg of intense rivalries, divisions and discontent was ignited — seemingly catching Sudan’s neighbors off-guard.
A protracted conflict between the two groups risks dragging Sudan’s regional patrons and neighbors, such as Chad, Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia, into the dispute, especially given that the Sudanese rivals seem fairly evenly matched. Bellicose rhetoric makes it clear that their leaders are currently set on annihilating each other. This is perhaps the culmination of their competition for influence and authority, which is rooted in the tenure of former autocratic leader Bashir.
In the early 2000s, Bashir employed and armed Arab tribes to initiate an aggressive counteroffensive against the predominantly non-Arab armed factions that opposed governmental neglect and exploitation. His strategy proved effective, albeit with significant human consequences, most notably the 300,000 fatalities during a six-year conflict in Darfur. Then, in an effort to “coup-proof” his regime, Bashir integrated the Arab tribal militias from Darfur into the Rapid Support Forces and appointed Dagalo as leader of a force that became a de facto “presidential guard” answerable only to Bashir.
Soon, the power wielded by the Rapid Support Forces expanded as it gained control over lucrative, albeit illegal, gold-mining operations, as well as generous funding from overseas in exchange for deploying its members as mercenaries in other hot spots.
In addition, Dagalo’s proximity to Bashir allowed him to cultivate personal relationships with regional neighbors and even seek collaboration from the notorious Wagner Group, which began to make inroads in Sudan not long after Bashir’s 2017 trip to Moscow to pitch to President Vladmir Putin the idea of Sudan as a “gateway to Africa.”
Thanks to its considerable financial resources and backing from international sponsors, the Rapid Support Forces quickly emerged as a formidable rival to the conventional Sudanese military. Dagalo set about laying the groundwork for an eventual confrontation with the Sudanese state by instrumentalizing the transition process to thwart Al-Burhan’s ambitions, which often involved supporting civilian calls for an end to military rule even though the Rapid Support Forces was part of that military.
Once the Framework Agreement was signed, the already complicated dynamics of Sudanese politics, predominantly characterized by civilian-military antagonism, grew even more complex. Al-Burhan and Dagalo embarked on a quest to garner support from both civilian factions and rebel groups, while simultaneously seeking support from the peripheries, away from their respective urban strongholds. As a result, attempts to initiate comprehensive security sector reforms that would have effectively neutered Dagalo became increasingly untenable, pitting the nation’s two principal military entities against each other.
The international community, meanwhile, remained strangely insistent that there were little or no substantive differences between Sudan’s forces that might hamper progress toward solving the country’s intractable woes.
For most Sudanese people though, it was already clear late last year that a conflict between Al-Burhan and Dagalo was a matter of “when,” not “if.”
Whatever the outcome of the conflict, and the likely devastating losses arising from it, Sudan will once again face an intractable dilemma, and it will not be the resolute call for democracy that an enraged populace sought after putting an end to Bashir’s reign.
Instead, the corrosive legacy of Bashir’s transactional politics and his exploitation of militias, having found new political life in Dagalo’s ambitions, will continue to wreak havoc which, as always, will be paid for with the blood of the innocent.
• Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow and executive director of the Ibn Khaldun Strategic Initiative at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., and the former adviser to the dean of the board of executive directors of the World Bank Group. Twitter: @HafedAlGhwell

Turkiye, Egypt may cooperate to help Libya
Yasar Yakis/Arab News/April 23, 2023
Turkiye and Egypt have been at loggerheads for a prolonged period. It started with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s harsh rhetoric against the rise to power of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Erdogan was opposed to his government, mainly because it had succeeded a regime that relied on the Muslim Brotherhood movement that he had supported and that he still supports. However, time moves fast in the Middle East. Old coalitions collapsed and new coalitions were formed. Those behind the Abraham Accords wanted them to reshape the Middle East. Now, China is mediating between Saudi Arabia and Iran. At a time when Turkiye was isolated in the region, El-Sisi extended a warm handshake to Erdogan and a new dynamic was unleashed between Turkiye and Egypt. The recent earthquake diplomacy also helped these two heavyweights of the Middle East thaw their frozen relations.
The foreign ministers of the two countries have paid visits to each other’s capitals and the relations have started to move. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has an innate capacity to easily establish friendships. It is thanks to this conciliatory skill that he was able to serve as president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe between 2010 and 2012. He is now using this talent to restore Turkish-Egyptian relations.
However, there are two major issues between Ankara and Cairo regarding Libya. One of them is the memorandum of understanding signed between Turkiye and Libya regarding the demarcation of their maritime jurisdiction areas. Ankara signed this memorandum with the then-legitimate government of Libya. However, it was not ratified by the parliament.
This question has become more complicated because of the emergence of two powerhouses in Libya. One is the government led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh that is supported by the Government of National Unity based in Tripoli. The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum appointed him to act as prime minister until the elections that were supposed to have been held on Dec. 24, 2021. However, for several reasons, these elections could not be held on the scheduled date. Dbeibeh claims that he still holds the title of prime minister and will continue to do so until elections are held and a successor is designated.
When Turkiye was isolated in the region, El-Sisi extended a warm handshake to Erdogan and a new dynamic was unleashed.
The other contender is former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha. He was selected as prime minister-designate and head of government by the Tobruk-based Libyan House of Representatives. Bashagha claims that, as Dbeibeh’s term as PM was limited to Dec. 21, 2021, he cannot occupy this post any longer.
The question of the demarcation of the Turkiye-Libya maritime jurisdiction areas also remains in abeyance. Libya’s Government of National Accord deposited the memorandum with the UN and the UN Secretariat on Oct. 1, 2020, registering it in accordance with Article 102 of the UN Charter. Five countries protested this action and sent a note verbale to the UN Secretariat calling for the memorandum not to be registered, but this protest was not considered by the organization. The Turkiye-Libya memorandum is important because it cuts off the connection between the Greek and Egyptian maritime jurisdiction zones. If there is a will, this question may be solved with the cooperation of four countries, namely Turkiye, Egypt, Greece and Libya, or it may be referred to the arbitration of the International Court of Justice.
The second major issue between Turkiye and Egypt is the ongoing political and military instability in Libya. However, this question may now become a vehicle for cooperation. Ankara and Cairo seem to be eager to cooperate in order to stabilize Libya. Turkiye’s deep involvement in Libya had disturbed Cairo in the recent past, because it is Libya’s neighbor. They have a common border of 1,115 km. Several tribes span the border. Libya has been in dire need of political conciliation. Turkiye and Egypt do not have contradictory interests in Libya, which is an oil-rich country that also whets the appetite of several third countries. Ottoman Turkiye had a long-held presence in Libya. Many politically influential Libyan leaders have Turkish origins and also have relatives in Turkiye. This may facilitate Turkish-Egyptian cooperation if they remain sensitive and protect each other’s priorities. All sorts of political, religious, tribal and regional rivalries coexist in Libya. The warlord Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar controlled vast swaths of the country, but the military support provided by Turkiye to the Government of National Accord saved Tripoli from a possible collapse. The rivalry is mainly focused on controlling oil revenues. The Middle East has become tired of conflicts. There are all types of seeds of conflict in the region. While the Yemeni tribes are on their way to reaching a compromise, an internecine war erupts in Sudan. In Libya, there is enough money to make every single resident happy, including foreigners, but human avarice has no limits.
*Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkiye and founding member of the ruling AK Party. Twitter: @yakis_yasar

Specter of Afghanistan debacle haunts Biden
Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/April 23, 2023
Americans still remember the scandal of the withdrawal of the country’s military forces from Afghanistan and the chaos that followed. Many believe that the commander-in-chief of the US forces should be held accountable and explain what happened on the ground.
A congressional hearing was held this month to evaluate President Joe Biden’s plan to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan. The hearing allowed lawmakers to assess the effectiveness of the withdrawal plan and its potential consequences. The situation in Afghanistan has become increasingly complex since the withdrawal of US troops in August 2021. The Afghan government quickly collapsed and the Taliban seized control of the country. The House Oversight Committee hearing was a stark reminder of the stunning failures of leadership that plagued the US government’s handling of the conflict for two decades. It was a platform for both lawmakers and military officials to air their grievances and point fingers at one another, with little consensus on the best course of action moving forward. At a March House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the subject, Marine Sgt. Tyler Vargas-Andrews, 25, who was nearly killed in the deadly terrorist attack at Kabul airport during the withdrawal, emotionally told lawmakers how bad the situation was. “I opened my eyes to Marines dead or unconscious lying around me … My body was overwhelmed from the trauma of the blast,” he said.
The suicide bombing at an airport checkpoint claimed the lives of 13 US service members and 170 Afghan civilians, who were trying to make it out of their country out of fear. One of the most significant issues that emerged during the hearing was the lack of a clear and coherent strategy for the withdrawal. The Biden administration’s decision to complete the withdrawal of troops by the end of August was clearly not thought through, and the sudden announcement left little time to prepare for the inevitable chaos that would ensue.
The whole world witnessed on live TV the severe shortcomings in the execution of the withdrawal plan. In February, the Pentagon released its findings on the attack in Kabul, noting that the suicide attack was not preventable. However, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul accused the Biden administration of failing to properly plan for the fallout of the withdrawal.
The Republican congressman stressed in his opening remarks at the March hearing that more than 1,000 US citizens and an estimated 200,000 Afghan allies and partners were left behind. “I want every gold and blue star family member and every veteran out there watching this today to know that I will not rest, and this committee will not rest, until we determine how this happened and hold those responsible for it accountable,” he added.
The whole world witnessed on live TV the severe shortcomings in the execution of the withdrawal plan and the failure to evacuate US citizens and allies in a timely and efficient manner. The sight of desperate Afghans clinging to departing planes was a harrowing reminder of the human cost of this failure.
The House hearing also highlighted the US government’s lack of accountability and transparency. Lawmakers and military officials were quick to blame one another, with little indication that anyone was willing to take responsibility for the disastrous outcome of the withdrawal.
Moving forward, it is essential that the US should take a long, hard look at its role in Afghanistan and make a concerted effort to learn from its mistakes. This means acknowledging the failures of the two-decade conflict and the withdrawal, while taking steps to address the underlying issues that contributed to these failures. The American and Afghan publics and US allies deserve to know what went wrong in Afghanistan and who is responsible. Being involved in the Ukraine war and the escalating tensions with China should not give Biden and his Cabinet members a free pass. The specter of the war in Afghanistan will haunt the US president and his commanders until justice is served. The question remains, will Biden be willing to take responsibility for his mistakes and work to rectify them? Don’t count on it.
Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Twitter: @DaliaAlAqidi